We are currently digging in Zone 3 and have encountered a difficulty which arises from time to time when digging; numerous inter cutting pits. The problem is that the relationship between features sometimes only become apparent once they are fully excavated, thus sometimes a digger has to cease digging a feature so that they do not begin to work out of sequence with the other features being excavated around them. This can be quite frustrating, however once one keeps up to date with ones paperwork, the eventual return to digging the feature can be pain free.

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Fergal loves paperwork of course…

Another difficulty can be when digging on the edge of a zone and the features you are excavating run into the next zone. This is a problem I am facing at the moment with the features I am digging being cut in half by the demarcation line between Zones 3 and 4. This again highlights the need for accurate maintenance of the written record, as the paperwork I have begun will be put to one side and resurrected in the future when in Zone 4 when I encounter these features again. With clear and legible paperwork, I can easily amend the record when we enter Zone 4. So basically these will not be entered into ARK for quite sometime until we move into Zone 4!

So although paperwork may not be the most glamorous or ‘fun’ aspect of archaeology it is an essential aspect not just for the eventual publication of the site report but also for keeping track of features that one has to leave temporarily.

See Video Episode 7 for more information about the written record at Prescot Street.